P.B.A. TRUSTEE PROTESTS L.I. OFFICER'S DRIVING ARREST

By JAMES BARRON

Published: March 28, 1982

A trustee of the Suffolk Patrolmen's Benevolent Association has sent a letter to more than 500 of his fellow police officers criticizing three superiors for arresting a former association president on a charge of driving while intoxicated.

The trustee, Carl Romagnollo, accused the three of having acted ''unnecessarily'' and of showing ''no consideration to our brother.'' But the Police Commissioner, Donald Dilworth, said that the arrest was warranted and that the department did not have a policy of ''protecting its own.''

The officer, Edward Johnson, was arrested on March 17 after his car hit another in Smithtown, L.I. Commissioner Dilworth said that Officer Johnson had declined to take a test to measure the level of alcohol in his bloodstream and was suspended without pay later that evening.

He was reinstated two days later, but he still faces a court appearance on the charges. According to the police report filed after the arrest, Officer Johnson smashed into a 1973 Plymouth stopped at a traffic light on Route 25A in Smithtown. Officer Johnson - who headed the 2,500-member P.B.A. in the mid-1970's - was off duty at the time, Commissioner Dilworth said.

The driver of the Plymouth, Diane Morhard of Smithtown, was taken to St. John's Hospital in Smithtown, where she was treated for minor injuries and released. Two passengers in her car were unhurt.

Lieut. Gerald Marco, on patrol in the area, arrived a few minutes after the collision at 8:40 P.M. Officer Johnson, who is assigned to the First Precinct in Lindenhurst, was taken to the Fourth Precinct in Hauppaugue. The arrest was made by Lieutenant Marco, along with Sgt. Joseph Mitkish and Deputy Inspector Wayne Stinson.

In his letter on P.B.A. stationery, the union trustee, Officer Romagnolo, said: ''Please accept on behalf of all Fourth Precinct members (minus three) our deepest apologies for the embarrassment caused as a result of this incident.''

He said that Officer Johnson ''while he may have been drinking, was not sufficiently intoxicated to warrant an arrest, nor did his actions provoke such harsh treatment.''

Other officers said that Officer Johnson had sustained a head injury that might have caused him to appear dazed. Officer Romagnollo also charged that the handling of Officer Johnson's case contrasted with the way a sergeant was treated last month. ''His state of intoxication was such that the bartender refused to serve him,'' Officer Romagnollo wrote, referring to the unidentified sergeant.

''This sergeant was not only abusive to that bartender and patrons but also to the three police officers called upon to remove him from the presmises,'' Officer Romagnolo continued. ''Once removed, he drove a police vehicle which he was not authorized to use, struck a parked vehicle and then attempted to leave the scene of the accident.''

The letter said that no departmental charges had been lodged against the sergeant, but a department spokesman said that the case was being investigated.